The banana seat accommodated carrying a small passenger and the wooden board was their foot rest. The seat and trick bars provide a very comfortable riding position. Don't need multiple gears for flat riding with young kids. Four gears were removed from the 5-speed cluster for simplification (didn't have a SS freewheel) and to continue running the thin chain. A 70's Schwinn badge was added to the head tube to confuse people...really gets them scratching their heads. Just added the 24" aluminum rim to improve braking when wet at the expense of patina. Wish I could add front shocks but won't give up the basket for carrying backpacks, gallons of milk, etc. Oh yeah, been through a couple sets of used pedals, too.

Work-in-progress project bike (Panasonic Sport 500) that'll become a bad-weather single-speed with a front drum brake. It also looks like my Topeak rear basket will fit it better than my other bikes, so it'll likely take on grocery duty, too:

agmetal, I like your bikes and your project. I made a commuter bike out of a mid-90's Bianchi Volpe. It weighs almost 40 lbs. What does yours weigh? I have a rear rack, a dynamo hub, headlight and tail light, and fenders. Despite the weight, it runs so well and fits me so well that it doesn't feel very heavy.

I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter. --Blaise Pascal

agmetal, I like your bikes and your project. I made a commuter bike out of a mid-90's Bianchi Volpe. It weighs almost 40 lbs. What does yours weigh? I have a rear rack, a dynamo hub, headlight and tail light, and fenders. Despite the weight, it runs so well and fits me so well that it doesn't feel very heavy.

No idea on the weight...I don't have a bathroom scale or anything at home, so I've never attempted to weigh it! It doesn't strike me as terribly heavy, though, especially when I have my u-lock in my bag, as opposed to the rear rack. It actually feels quite light without the lock on it!

Hi everyone, let me introduce you my commuter/everyday bike, it's a early '90s (I guess..) Atala Tour that I bought at an auction of abandoned bikes 10 years ago. I had to replace rear wheel, fenders, lights, dynamo, brakes, get a saddle (and then matching grips, because..you know!) front wheel bearings and cranks bearings and now it flies! The derailleur it's a (crappy) low-end Shimano SiS and that's the only thing soon or later I'm going to replace because no matter what I (or bike mechanics) do it won't work smoothly!
To make it more functional I'm thinking of getting one of those wonderful olive green Carradice Barley bags..

A couple shots of my single speed. If I keep it I'm going to get fenders and change the bars to something more upright. I've got it on CL for now. I replaced / built this up from an 80s Schwinn Traveler. Only things original are frame, pedals, crank/bb, headset/fork/stem/bars, & brakes/leverss1.jpgs2.jpg

Thanks!! I feel at home in this sub-forum. Been commuting 20-25km a day, and it's really addictive. Looking at the tons of good/great bikes here inspire me to make my ride 'better'. Little new projects coming (trekking bar, upgrade of drive train), preparing for a century ride in the middle of the year *finger crossed*. Anyway, great thread!!

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This is my "commuter" bike, really it's my only bike. 2014 Kona Jake, I had a cheap GT Timberline hardtail before, decided I wanted to start commuting to school everyday, so I sold that and bought this. I love it, to say the least. Tiagra components, disk brakes, and the bike fits me really well. Anyways, just wanted to drop my 2 cents in. I'm pretty new to cycling, been riding for about 6 months so far.